In a pair of home games, four days apart, Ice Flyers owner Greg Harris witnessed the high and low of the business.

From a sellout crowd (8,049) and raucous atmosphere last Saturday at the Pensacola Bay Center, then a rescheduled game Wednesday night that was tough to sell. And it showed in the less than 2,000 in attendance.

"We knew it would be tough on a mid-week game, following that weekend," he said.

But in attracting 14,000-plus fans last weekend for games Friday and Saturday, the Ice Flyers already know the residual benefits.

"It is a great opportunity to bring in new fans, our suppliers, our vendors, sponsors and potential new sponsors," Harris said. "That is why it has become a staple for us. We definitely plan on doing it, every single season.

"We get season ticket inquiries, group outing inquires. People came up to me that weekend and say, 'Oh my gosh, we haven't been here for so long, it is so awesome.' "And that is what it's about ... creating the opportunity for people to be exposed to the Ice Flyers brand."

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Other teams in the Southern Professional Hockey League have copied the Ice Flyers' $5 special, but have done it for one game. Harris believes he is the only one in the league doing it back-back-back games on a Friday-Saturday.

People may wonder, why not do it more? You can't.

That cheapens the idea and creates a rift with season-ticket holders, or frequent ticket buys, purchasing seats for either 28 games or multiple games.

Once a year, two nights, is what works best.

"The very first year we did it for our fifth anniversary (in 2012-13)," Harris said. "We noticed we gained new season ticket holders, people brought groups out because they came to that game. And they in turn brought their group of businesses out."

With six home games remaining in the regular season, the Ice Flyers have attracted 83,242 fans. Their average attendance (3,783) is fourth best in the 10-team league. They are on pace to again eclipse 100,000 fans, which has occurred every season Harris has been the owner.

The three teams ahead (Huntsville, Peoria, Knoxville) are in bigger markets. Huntsville and Peoria have two of the best arenas in the league.

The Pensacola Ice Flyers take on the Roanoke Railyard Dawgs on the first of two back-to-back $5 tickets nights at the Pensacola Bay Center on Friday, March 02, 2018.(Photo11: Jody Link/online@pnj.com)

The Ice Flyers average attendance is greater or within 200 fans of 12 of the teams in the higher-level ECHL (with NHL affiliates) including places like Indianapolis, Greenville (S.C.), Norfolk (Va.) and Quad Cities (Davenport, Iowa, Moline, Illinois, 2 others).

Those four places have a much higher metro population than Pensacola.

So hockey is doing just fine here, even with the decaying Bay Center.

This season, the Ice Flyers attendance must be weighed against four cancelled dates.

The Ice Flyers lost a Friday game on Dec. 8 when President Trump made the last-minute decision to hold a rally at the Bay Center. That home game had to be moved to a Monday and attracted only 2,013 fans.

The Ice Flyers were set to host three, weekend home games Feb. 16-18. All three of those games were wiped out by ice surface issues at the Bay Center.

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The Ice Flyers attracted a sellout crowd of 8,049 March 3 for their game against Roanoke as part of the $5 ticket weekend.(Photo11: Bill Vilona/bvilona@pnj.com)

Now, none of those games will be played on a weekend date, so that's a loss of thousands of fans with the alternative dates. That's a lot of dollars to make up.

"Our attendance numbers are what people look at what when we sell (home game promotions)," Harris said. "It is a pretty big ripple effect

"We have lost two Fridays, a Saturday and a Sunday. It's a killer."

What's helped ease the pain is a team that is in second place with a 28-11-4 record. Wednesday was not a good night in a 4-2 loss against the Mississippi RiverKings. But Saturday's sellout crowd watched a 5-2 comeback win.

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The Ice Flyers attracted a sellout crowd of 8,049 for their March 3 game against Roanoke as part of the $5 ticket weekend.(Photo11: Bill Vilona/bvilona@pnj.com)

"We feed off it, we love it," said Ice Flyers coach Jeff Bes. "I had seen it before (as coach of an opposing team), but it was special seeing the building full."

Harris knew that night may lead to more nights like that one. It helps introduce first-time fans to what a hockey game can become when there is a large crowd.

"When everything comes together like that night, then that's what creates the memories. not only for fans, but all of us as well," Harris said. "And we can say, 'Wow what a great night it was. It was just an amazing night. "

I was thrilled. The execution of our game operations. tickets.. everything came together so well."

The Ice Flyers next home games are March 16-17 against first-place Peoria. Those games figure to be an attraction. It also gets the Ice Flyers closer to hitting the 100,000 season mark again.

Given all the Ice Flyers have gone through, it means even more this season.